Tuesday letters: All about the wall, the shutdown and finding a compromise

Jan 22, 2019 | 12:00 AM

Some Sun Sentinel readers suggest Congress and President Trump could reach a compromise to fund the government and end the shutdown by letting Dreamers remain in the country in exchange for funding the president's border wall. (Getty Images)

Border security in exchange for a Dreamers deal

Conservatives need to wake up and realize that the so-called Dreamers — those brought to this country as children by undocumented immigrant parents — are not going anywhere. And the Democrats need to open their eyes to the problems on our southern border. I could not agree more with today’s editorial. (“Cut a wall-for-Dreamers deal, stop embarrassing yourselves”). We need to permanently deal with both the Dreamers and complete the wall on our southern border. Now is the perfect time to accomplish both. I hope Sen. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio as well as the House Representatives from Florida read this editorial. Stop playing politics! President Trump has accomplished much in two years. The reason our country is shut down is that the Democrats don’t want him to have the border wall/fence as a tool in the next election. Trump is not a classic conservative. He is more than willing to cut a deal for the Dreamers. If the Democrats truly care about the Dreamers, prove it! Now is the time.

Burt Long

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Sunrise

Democrats, ‘deplorables’ and border wall politics

Democrats The front page article on the government shutdown on Jan. 13th, with all that expert reporting, never mentioned that the Democrat leaders of Congress all voted to build the Wall on three occasions. They gave numerous speeches expressing alarm at mass illegal immigration and the flood of crimes that accompany it. Suddenly, it is all a mirage summoned by the “Deplorables,” is strangely both ineffective and immoral at the same time. [Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was quoted as saying half of Trump’s supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables” at a fundraiser during the 2016 campaign.]

The article retort to Mr. Trump’s claim that “elections have consequences” is that the recent election chose a Democratic House. Somehow that was never relevant when Democrats lost Congress due to Obamacare or that they lost Senate seats to Open Border advocates. In a mature democracy, the views of both parties are regarded and a president’s campaign issues are given a degree of deference. Only a year ago, Senate Democrats proposed shutting the government unless protection for DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] was included and as an enticement, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., proposed fully funding the border wall approved by Congress in 2006. How is that not feasible now?

No wall high enough

Along most of the border between Gaza and Israel, there are three barriers — two walls (concrete I think) and a spiral, electrified, barbed wire fence. Still, Hamas and the other terrorist camps in Gaza find ways to infiltrate Israel — usually through tunnels. I visited a community less than 50 feet from the Israeli wall. Their motto is 7 seconds. That's the time they have to find cover when an alarm sounds that a missile was fired. Does anyone in their right mind think that a wall, no matter how high, will really deter anyone? On the contrary, it would likely result in black market sales of 'safe' passage through newly created tunnels. Shall we call it Trump's folly?

Benton S Mirman

Deerfield Beach

Unpunished attacks on Trump

A member of the Miami Heat (Dion Waiters) uses foul language and receives a fine. A newly elected Democratic congresswoman uses foul language and receives a round of applause. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., made her derogatory remarks in a video posted online after being sworn in earlier this month as a member of Congress in Washington. Robert De Niro cussed out our president last year and received a standing ovation. De Niro’s profane remarks about Trump were made last June at the Tony Awards.